『Ryan Stana | From $600 a Week to 7 Global Offices: The RWS Story, Private Equity & Being a Gay CEO in Entertainment | #23』のカバーアート

Ryan Stana | From $600 a Week to 7 Global Offices: The RWS Story, Private Equity & Being a Gay CEO in Entertainment | #23

Ryan Stana | From $600 a Week to 7 Global Offices: The RWS Story, Private Equity & Being a Gay CEO in Entertainment | #23

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What does it take to build a global live entertainment company from scratch at age 21, with no investors, no loans and two roommates answering your phones for $3 off the utility bill? In this episode, Jim Fielding sits down with Ryan Stana, founder and CEO of RWS Global, the world's premier one-stop shop for live entertainment, to tell the full founder story from a living room in New York City to seven headquarters across the globe.Ryan produced shows for Royal Caribbean, Six Flags and Disney before most people his age had a 401k. He bootstrapped the entire business for over two decades, bought three companies during COVID, then walked into 42 private equity meetings himself with his laptop and a presentation he built from scratch. This is one of the most honest, specific and genuinely inspiring entrepreneurship conversations the show has ever had.In This Episode:Growing up in Greensburg, Pennsylvania with two entrepreneur parents and why that wired Ryan for businessQuitting his job, setting up a phone line in his apartment and landing a $200,000 Clear Channel contract on his first pitchWhy creativity and operations have to have equal respect, and what happens when they don'tThe one-stop shop model: how RWS produces original shows, costumes, casting and choreography for one checkHow Ryan bought the legendary Binder Casting agency to preserve a mentor's legacy, and what that unlocked for his talent pipelineBootstrapping for 20 years: why he never took a loan or an outside investor and how operations funded every bit of growthLosing himself as a leader after COVID and the moment he reclaimed his identity and culture with "my way or the door"Why he pitched 42 private equity firms himself instead of hiring a banker, and what he learned in every roomThe transition from operating CEO to executive chairman: what it feels like to hand off the baby you raised for 23 yearsWhat leaving space in your morning schedule does to your brain when you stop filling every hour with callsBeing an out gay CEO in corporate entertainment and why holding your husband's hand in a flyover state is an act of changeWhy visibility in small towns matters more than visibility in New York or LATimestamps: 00:01 – Welcome & how Jim and Ryan met through mutual friend Rema Awad 03:05 – Ryan's background: Greensburg, PA, child performer and theme park show obsession 06:12 – Senior year of high school: "Maybe I want to produce this." 07:19 – Writing corporate shows in college as a one-stop shop for hire 09:23 – Quitting his job, setting up a fake phone operation in his apartment and launching RWS at 21 10:59 – Never burn a bridge: the email that launched everything the next morning 12:00 – Walking into Clear Channel in Times Square and winning a $200,000 contract on day one 15:28 – First hire, first office and 23 years of zero outside funding 18:22 – Bootstrapping principle: the money that comes in is the money that goes out 24:00 – The acquisition strategy: buying companies to build the full vertical 27:32 – Buying Binder Casting to save a mentor's legacy and unlocking Broadway and Radio City 29:01 – What a true one-stop shop looks like from a client's perspective 33:26 – "Every dream I had has come true. Now I want to make everyone else's dreams come true." 34:10 – How RWS not only survived COVID but came out stronger through acquisitions 35:52 – Losing himself as a leader post-COVID and reclaiming his culture 38:38 – The decision to bring in private equity and why he did it himself 40:00 – Pitching 42 PE firms solo and getting 13 interested 41:42 – Choosing minority ownership and why the right partner showed up at the last minute 43:53 – 7 global HQs and an office open somewhere in the world around the clock 50:00 – The transition from CEO to Executive Chairman: what changes and what doesn't 54:56 – "It's like being a smoker without cigarettes": the honest truth about stepping back 58:20 – Morning walks in Miami with no phone and what the brain does when you let it rest 59:38 – Control the controllable, but leave space for the possible 01:00:50 – Being an out gay CEO in corporate entertainment and the responsibility that comes with visibility 01:04:53 – Why mentorship is the bridge to the next generation's success 01:06:47 – Happy Pride and what comes next for RWS GlobalMentioned in This Episode:RWS Global (rwsglobal.com)Binder CastingRoyal Caribbean, Six Flags, DisneyRadio City RockettesThe Lion King, Chicago the Musical (Broadway)Jim Fielding's book: Control the ControllableClear Channel WorldwideConnect with Ryan Stana: LinkedIn: Ryan Stana Website: rwsglobal.com✨ Follow Jim Fielding & Ask For An Answer:💼 Instagram: Instagram: https://instagram.com/hijimfielding/🌐 Podcast: Ask For An AnswerWebsite: hijimfielding.com#RyanStana #RWSGlobal #LiveEntertainment #Entrepreneurship #FounderStory #StartupStory #BootstrapBusiness #CEO #PrivateEquity #AskForAnAnswer #JimFielding #...
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